EU immigration to Britain falls to five-year low: ONS

LONDON (Reuters) – The number of European Union immigrants to Britain fell to a five-year low last year, as fewer people came without a firm job offer during the first full calendar year since June 2016’s Brexit vote, official data showed on Monday.

Overall net immigration of people of all nationalities to Britain rose to 282,000 in 2017 from 249,000 in 2016, though this is well below the multi-year high of 332,000 recorded in 2015, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said.

But net immigration of EU citizens dropped to 101,000 last year from 133,000 in 2016.

“The estimated number of EU citizens coming to the UK ‘looking for work’ continued to decrease over the last year and the number coming to the UK for a definite job has remained stable,” the ONS said.